Unbelievers
by hauntingchristine
Summary: Wanda Maximoff had her life flipped when she joined S.H.I.E.L.D, figured out how to control her powers, and met the dashing man who was called Captain America. Wanda/Steve
1. Chapter 1

Unbelievers

A/N: This is AU in the Marvel Universe in the way of the Maximoff twin's. I'm taking a totally different approach with their history and such, so that's AU, but the plot of the Avengers and the rest of the movies will stay the same. It's Wanda-centric, but Pietro plays a big part. Also, Wanda's personality has been tweaked considering how she grew up differs greatly.

Please read and review!

Sorry about grammar/spelling issues!

-christine

/ Chapter One /

/*\

There weren't a lot of things that particularly annoyed me, but one of them was when a customer attempted to push their mistake onto me. As the woman rattled off the list of how many things I had done wrong the other day when ringing up her order, one of those stupid sayings popped into my head: The customer is always right. Then, by that logic, what do you do when the customer is so, so wrong?

Digging my nails into my palms, I nodded as what I hoped came off as sympathetically.

"So," the woman finally finished, shoving a pile of books at me, "I'd like to return them all." She had the receipt sitting on the top book, and there was a brief moment where I wanted to take the tiny piece of paper and shred it, right in front of her, but I cooled off thankfully before I could do anything. I took it and scanned it instead, placing it on the side of the pile.

"No problem, miss," I said anyways, taking her credit card from her to scan it. "Sorry about the trouble."

Instead of replying, she sniffed.

Handing back her card and a new receipt, I watched as she left, the doors swinging open behind her and almost hitting a man who was coming in. I snorted, turning back to the register.

"She's so annoying," someone said behind me.

I turned, watching as Leah moved around behind me, stacking books up. Her fingers worked deftly to make sure they didn't fall, and she leaned up on her toes to get the rest of them. "Right?" I responded, leaning my elbows up on the table behind me. "Why is she so set on blaming everything on us?"

Leah shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't have a life."

I grinned. "Maybe?"

Turning her head back to smile at me, Leah nodded. "Okay, she doesn't have a life whatsoever."

There was a rustle as Sam pushed in a box using his legs, pushing his bangs back with his hand. "Maybe she has a reason for being mean. You don't know her life story." He bent down to start ripping open the top of it, and Leah made a noise when she realized it was full of more books for her to stack. I grinned, watching the two exchange a dark look.

"Look at you, being the peace-keeper," I cooed, turning around back to my post. There was no one in line, and it was a slow day to begin with. I was thankful for the lack of a crowd.

Sam laughed. "You know it."

Leah reached down and grabbed the first few, juggling them in her arms. She moved to the other end of the bookshelf and started placing them in neat rows.

Beside her, Sam was leaning against the desk, his head tossed back. "When does my shift end?" he asked, sounding distressed.

"When mine does," Leah pointed out. "So not for two more hours."

"Wonder how that'll be, considering I'm gone in five minutes." Gleefully, I turned to look at the clock, watching as the seconds slowly ticked by. By the look of the activity in the store, I guessed I wouldn't have to ring up another customer until tomorrow. Getting a head-start, I unpinned my nametag and placed it into my pocket.

There was a loud noise as the books toppled over, hitting Leah as she darted out of the way. She made a noise in the back of her throat. "Take me with you," she moaned, pulling at her hair. "I can't deal with this for two more hours."

"Have Sam help you." I reached down to retrieve my cell phone, placing it in my other pocket. "He doesn't look like he's doing much."

Sam suddenly moved to the other end of the counter, pointing at a young girl who was pulling out the comic books. "You know I'd help you, Lee, but I got a customer to help."

I reached over and stopped with a tug to his shirt. "I still got three minutes, Sammy. You can help Leah. I got the girl."

"You're a savior, Wanda," Leah chirped, watching happily as Sam slowly trekked back to help with the fallen pile of books. "See you tomorrow."

Ignoring the dark glares Sam sent my way, I started over towards the young girl. She had her hair pushed back into two pigtails, and her dress was the kind of bright orange that hurt your eyes. She was rocking back and forth on her heels, studying a Batman comic. Smiling gently, I bent down next to her. "Can I help you, honey?"

She turned to look at me, startled from her reading. "I want to read Wonder Woman."

"Well, then, you're looking at the wrong comic," I told her simply, and thumbed through a few of the comics to find the one I was looking for. Diana beamed up at me from the cover, the title big and impressive. "Here you go. One of the better ones. I've read it."

The girl took it quickly, looking up at me with her eyes wide. "You read this one?"

"Of course I did." I placed the forgotten Batman one back on the rack. "I love Wonder Woman. Have you read any of the comics with the Flash in them?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. Are they good?"

"Amazing."

She hid her face between the pages, suddenly looking embarrassed. "I love superheroes," she said quietly, as if afraid someone might overhear. "But my mom doesn't really think I should read them all the time."

I frowned. "Well, you're mother doesn't know how awesome they are, right? Read whatever you want, sweetheart. Anything in this entire store."

She lit up. "Anything?" she asked gleefully.

Hiding my laughter, I nodded. "There might be a few exceptions," I said carefully, remembering one section in the back that had made Sam laugh and Leah turn bright red. "But other than a few books, you can read anything you're able to."

The comic slid to the ground as she threw her arms around me. Surprised, I paused briefly before laughing and hugging her back. She pulled back after a few moments. "What's your name?" I asked her, remembering I hadn't gotten it.

"I'm Eleanor Williams," the girl said happily, sticking the comic book under her arm. "What's yours?"

"Wanda Maximoff."

She blinked, her mouth dropping open. "That's an awesome name! You could… You could be a superhero!" She beamed up at me as if this was the most amazing thing in the world, and her eyes sparkled, fingers gripping the pages of the comic so tightly I was afraid it would rip.

"Well, one of the most important things about a superhero is their superhero name," I said slowly. "And I don't have a superhero name."

"I could come up with one for you!" She moved closer to me. "Can I?"

How could I say no? "Of course, Eleanor."

She frowned. "Call me Ellie, okay?"

I nodded. "Sure thing. Now, do you want that comic book?"

She glanced down at it, chewing her bottom lip. "Yes… But I don't think my mom will buy it for me." She looked around, trying to see where her mom was. "Maybe some other time."

Shaking my head, I gestured towards the front. "Here. I'll buy it for you."

"What? Really?" When I nodded again, Ellie dove forward and wrapped her arms around my legs. She was super tiny for a girl her age, but it only added to her adorableness. "Thank you so much! Thank you! Thank you!"

Laughing, I ruffled her hair. "You're welcome."

/*\

"You wouldn't believe this kid at work today," I told my parents as I moved around the house, helping my mother with dinner. We moved around the kitchen in sync, having done so many times before. "She was the cutest thing, and she couldn't have been more than six years old. I helped her pick out a comic book, and she told me I could be a superhero."

Mom laughed, pushing her hair behind her ear. "And what did you say?"

"I told her I couldn't be a superhero," I recalled, "considering I don't have a cool superhero name."

"Wanda Maximoff," my mother said, holding her hands up as if to show me an imaginary sign. "Isn't that a cool name by itself?"

Shrugging, I took out the plates and placed them on the table. Three sets of silverware, and then the cups, and I finished quickly. "Yeah, I guess, but that doesn't really happen nowadays. What did they call that superhero back in the day… Captain America, right? And don't tell me his name was actually Captain America."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Maybe it was."

"No way."

"You don't know for sure."

"I'll look it up."

"Get back to me on it."

We both laughed and she wiped her hands on a towel. "Grab your father. Dinner's ready."

By the time we had all settled down at the dining table, I had already eaten more than half of my dinner, despite my mother's warnings at me to wait. I was ravenous, and my mother's warnings did little than to make pause before I took another bite.

My family was a little odd, but I loved them. My mother, Marya, was a stay at home mother, which was awesome during my school years, because if I needed something she was able to get over to my school without any trouble. Now, it just meant that she bugged me for not getting out enough; not because I had a lack of things to do, but because I was inside doing other things (things that involved a certain ability of mine). My father, Django, made dolls, incredibly beautiful ones that sold for insane amounts of money.

Both of them were the best parents I could ever ask for, and I never took them for granted; but there was always the fact that before me, they had two other children. Two other children that never got the chance to grow up, and I always felt as though I was just the one that escaped, the one that managed to stay alive even though I never really had much to offer. They didn't talk about them much, though, and the only thing I really knew about them was theirs names – Ana and Mateo.

"So, Wanda," Mom said, breaking me from my reverie, "Have you decided what you want to do about the bookstore job yet?"

I twirled my fork on my plate. "I don't know. I don't want to drop it because I still don't really know what kind of job I want."

"Well, didn't you want to get one based on your Major?" my father asked.

My Major was Psychology. "Probably… But there's still a lot of time left for me to choose. I don't want to get roped into something I don't want to do. And besides, it just gives me a lot of time to hang out with Leah and Sam."

My mother looked interested at the mention of my close friends. "And how are they?"

"Mom, you saw them yesterday," I pointed out, "and Leah nearly ran over your flowers with her new car. How could you forget that mess?"

Mom laughed. "Point taken. But what about Sam? I haven't spoken with him in forever."

It'd only been two days since she'd last spoken with him, but I let it slide. "He's cool. We were out at the mall the other day, and we ran into this guy, and I swear, he and Sam could've been twins. How cool would that be, though? To have a twin?"

It seemed I'd said something wrong. My parents exchanged a look, and my mother looked considerably paler. Dad put down his knife and took a sip of his drink. "That'd be… something, Wanda."

Okay, strange. I paused, putting my own fork down. "There's something you're not telling me."

"What are you talking about?" Mom stood from her seat and collected the dishes. I didn't know dinner was over, but I guess know it was. They had always been this way – if there was something they wanted to keep from me, they'd basically shut down and move to another topic. It'd only happened a few times before. "How about dessert?"

As she moved back to the kitchen, I aimed my pointed stare at my father. "What is it?"

He sighed. "Nothing, Wanda."

"It can't be nothing," I said quickly, pushing my chair back. "It has to be something, because you wouldn't act like that if it were nothing."

"Act like what?" he questioned.

"Just… shut down like that." I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled. "Can you please tell me? It can't be that bad."

Dad shook his head. "Not tonight, Wanda."

"Fine." I scraped back in my chair and started towards my room. "I'm not in the mood for dessert anyways."

/*\

Leah had a rather loose grip on Damien's collar, but I didn't mention it. The small Corgi bounded forward in front of us, sniffing at everything he could get his nose on. She'd had the dog for only six months now, and he hadn't seemed to get any better with obedience. Not like Leah minded; she gave that dog anything it wanted.

"But what would you think your parents would have to hide from you?" Leah asked.

"I don't know. But it's probably big. Otherwise, why hide it?" I tucked my hands in the pockets of my jacket.

The park was lively today, I noted. Kids and their parents were everywhere, and there was an abundant amount of dogs. Frisbees were tossed too close for comfort, and kites filled the sky more than clouds. Cars were lined up and down the street, stretching further than I could see.

Leah tossed her head back, chewing on her lip. "Maybe… Maybe you're an alien. From another planet. And, oh my God, it makes so much sense, with your powers, Wanda, you're Superman!" She turned to me excitedly, eyes wide. "You are literally Superman. Put on some glasses and call yourself Clark Kent, because you are Superman."

I rolled my eyes and gave her a playful shove. "Shut up."

"You are!" She laughed, calming down. "But seriously, maybe it has to do with your powers? It is pretty big stuff, Wanda. How long did it take me to get used to them."

"Nearly a year, and even after that you fainted whenever you saw me use them."

"Because you use them every five years, if that," Leah pointed out. "If you don't use them as often as you should, you'll never be able to control them." She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "That could be… dangerous."

I frowned, kicking along a rock with my foot. "I could hurt someone."

"No!" she said quickly, touching my arm. "I don't believe you could ever hurt someone, Wanda. But I was thinking more along the lines of maybe destroying a house or two? Burning down the city?"

"Which could hurt people."

"Can you please get off the subject of hurting people?"

I sighed. "But the possibility is still there, Leah. And I don't want to do anything that could put someone in danger."

She reached out to grab my hand, squeezing it. "Then train it. Control it. Use it to help someone."

I tugged my hand back, using it to push my hair behind my ear. "I don't know if that's possible," I said bitterly, trying to swallow past a sudden lump in my throat. "I can't learn to control it on my own. I'm a freak. Who'd want to help a freak?"

"Don't say that." Leah pulled us down onto a bench, wrangling Damien back in. She turned to look at me, pulling out her signature puppy-dog look that made a lot of people do things they'd normally never do. "You are not a freak. You're going to be a hero, Wanda Maximoff. I can feel it."

"You can feel it?" I joked, rolling my eyes. "I don't know, Leah. I just don't know."

Leah opened her mouth as if to retort, but suddenly Damien must have spotted a cat, because he tugged too quickly, and the leash that had been loosely wrapped around her wrist came sliding off. She yelped and leaned forward, her fingers trying to catch the leash, but Damien was off, running faster than I'd ever seen him go. People dodged out of his way, and kids watched, amused, as he bounded off after a cat.

Both Leah and I sprang after him, legs working to catch up to him.

Damien had gone into the back area of the park, the section that was surrounded by old, dark trees, and the sun was almost always cut off from it. People never went back here, and it made it easier for us to catch up to Damien.

In what seemed like slow-motion, we both watched as Damien darted onto the street, and the truck sped around the corner-

And in what was definitely not slow-motion, and more blunt reflex, my arm shot out, and I squinted, trying my best to summon what strength at it. A harsh feeling filled the pit of my stomach, and a red light surrounded the palm of my hand. In a matter of seconds, Damien had been pushed back a few feet, and the truck sped on.

My heart lifted with relief and Leah fell onto her knees as she scooped Damien into her arms, squeezing him tightly and pressing her face into his fur. My knees were shaky, but I remained standing as I took a deep breath, trying to see straight again. This always took a lot out of me.

"Oh, thank you," Leah nearly shouted. "Thank you, Wanda, thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Yeah, it was nothing." I waved off her thanks and, after catching my breath, I glanced around. "You don't think anyone saw that, did you?"

Leah tightly wrapped the leash around her hand this time, careful not to make the same mistake. She stood, brushed off her jeans, and took a look around the park. "No… No I think you're good."

Sighing, I nodded. "Okay. Okay, cool."

Leah's hands were still shaking as we trekked back to the main part of the park. She still hadn't gotten over the scare, and I guess, and I didn't blame her. "But, see?" she said, bumping her hip into mine. "You did all that without training. Imagine what you could do with training!"

"Leave it, Leah," I warned.

She frowned, but thankfully left it.

/*\

There's this tradition we have working at the bookstore – every morning, someone has to bring in the coffees. It rotates, and this morning it was my turn. Standing in line at the shop, I flicked through my cell phone for something to do. I shifted my weight onto my other foot, pressed my lips into a line, and hoped the people would move quicker.

"Could I speak with you?"

Turning on my heel, I found myself facing a redheaded woman who looked as though she could kill me. I paused, raising my hand and pointing at myself. "Are you speaking to me?"

She grinned. "Yes."

"I, uh, well… I have to get coffee," I told her, finding my words. I pointed to the long line in front of us.

"Would you mind getting them after? This'll only take a second."

"I, uh, okay. Sure." I did not want to say no. I followed her to a table in the back, and we both took a seat across from each other. I crossed my ankles and nervously bit my thumb nail. I thought I'd lost that habit back in middle school, but it chose now to make itself known. I pulled my hand away, annoyed, sticking it underneath my thighs so I couldn't bring it back up. "So, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

The redhead grinned. "Natasha Romanoff. I work for S.H.I.E.L.D."

Whatever that was. "I'm Wanda Maximoff."

"I know," she replied, leaning back in her chair. "I came to speak with you about having you possibly come join. We could use a person with your abilities."

I had a feeling she wasn't speaking about my ability to interact with children under the age of 10. "What abilities?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You can change reality."

"I'm not admitting to anything, because I don't have such powers, but if I did, it'd be manipulating probability. I can't change the fact that someone might be hit by a car, but I could change the probability that they won't be hit." My little outburst made my cheeks turn red, but Natasha smiled smugly. "I can't do any of that, by the way."

"I'm pretty sure you can," Natasha said simply.

I frowned. "Got any proof?"

"As a matter of fact," she spoke, pulling out an advanced looking cell phone from her pocket, "I do." She opened the screen, and just by looking at the thumbnail I knew what it was.

It was a video of the whole Damien incident from yesterday. I watched Leah and I run after the dog, and I watched my hand shoot out, sparks of scarlet light coming from my palm. I watched as the dog was suddenly yanked back, the truck speeding along without hitting the poor creature. I felt sick. "How did you get that video? No one… No one was in that section of the park."

"You might want to watch your surroundings a little better next time, Miss Maximoff." Natasha took her phone back from me. "Is that proof enough that you have such abilities?"

I had a sudden urge to bite my thumbnail again. "…I suppose."

"You seem like you want to control your abilities," she added. "If you join S.H.I.E.L.D, we can help you control them."

"And what's the catch?" I retorted. There was always a catch.

"There's a looming threat on the horizon that we're aware of it." She shrugged casually. "You help us take care of it when the time comes. Nothing big."

Nothing big… I clasped my hands on the table, and thoughts of my parents filled my mind. They already two children that had died, and I didn't want to get myself in any unnecessary danger. I chewed on my lip. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm what you're looking for."

"On the contrary, you're exactly what we're looking for." She seemed adamant about it.

Shaking my head, I uncrossed my legs. "Could I have some time to think about it?"

"Of course. We'll send someone soon to see about your decision." Natasha pushed back from her chair, and gave me a small smile before she slipped out the door and into the crowd outside. I watched her leave, and then sat, deep within my thoughts for a few minutes.

What could this organization want with me? I was nothing but a lost girl who had no control whatsoever about her so-called powers. I would be of no help.

Yes, exactly. No help whatsoever.

And I'd tell that to whoever came to recruit me next.

I pushed away from my own seat and ambled back into line, sticking my hands in my pockets. The line moved slowly in front of me again, full of young college kids looking to keep themselves up for their next set of classes. I used to be one of them. I smiled. The ordinary life was fine with me. I had coffees to pick up.


	2. Chapter 2

Unbelievers

A/N: Mostly self-consciously, I picture my Pietro as Evan Peters. As much as I love Aaron, I just imagine Evan more. And also in way of his personality, same thing that applied to Wanda – his circumstances growing up differed from canon. So, yeah. Also, we're nearing the beginning of Avengers. I tweaked the plot line ever so slightly to make it so that Steve had already been brought in by Fury. Enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed!

/ Chapter Two /

/*\

Due to tight schedules and conflicting assignments, I didn't get the chance to tell Leah and Sam about Natasha Romanoff until the next day, way early in the morning. Leah had come in with her coffee run, and as we passed around the drinks in the same break room, I told them the story. They listened intently; Leah with eyebrows furrowed and Sam with his hands clasped tightly in his lap.

I finished it up, and Leah made a distressed noise. "Wanda!"

"What?"

"How could you say no? I was just telling you this, what, two days ago? If you could control your powers, imagine all the things you could do!" Leah tossed her arms up, and for a brief moment I thought the coffee was going to slosh out of the cup and leave a nasty stain on the floor that one of us would have to clean up. "This was your big chance."

I scowled. "It's my choice. Tell her, Sam."

Sam gave me a sad look, and I gaped. He was normally on my side.

"Listen, Wanda, I love you and all, but I'm with Leah on this one. This could've been big for you." He sat back in his seat, taking a long sip from his coffee. "And also, if you did join this group, I could have met this Natasha Romanoff, and by the way you're talking, she sounds super attractive."

My face twisted up. "You're gross."

Sam shot me a smile. "But you're not denying it."

What did it even matter if she was pretty or not? Before we could finish the argument, the manager, a lovely woman named Linda, came through the door, sending us all glares. "Shift's on, you slackers," she shouted at us, but when we just stared she sighed, shaking her head. "Why do I still pay you all?"

"Because you love us," Leah gushed, batting her eyelashes.

"And you couldn't live without us," I chirped afterwards.

Linda rolled her eyes. "Okay."

Heading out into the bookstore, Leah and I parted from Sam to head towards the front. I expected Leah to drop the situation, but she was surprisingly persistent. "Seriously, Wanda. You should have taken it. You could have been a superhero!"

"I don't want to be a superhero, okay?" I said, annoyed, wishing she'd drop it.

There was a sharp, sudden gasp behind me, and the loud noise of someone dropping what I presumed to be a hardcover book. Both Leah and I whirled around, and my heart nearly dropped at the sight of Ellie looking so heartbroken at something I'd said. Her hair was now twisted into a braid, and her big, blue eyes were sad.

Leah elbowed me sharply in the rips. "I'm not the only one begging you to do it." She scampered away before I could slap her back.

Turning back to Ellie, I scooped up her book. It was the entire history of the Batman comics, I noticed. Quite an expensive book to have dropped, but I let it slide. I closed it and gingerly swept the front of the cover for anything that may have gotten on it. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"You don't want to become a superhero?" Ellie asked, stricken. "What could be better than that?"

"I wouldn't be a superhero for taking this job," I explained quickly, taking her hand so I could lead her over the comic section and place this book back. "My friend was just exaggerating."

Ellie frowned. "What's that?"

"It's when you make something out to be bigger than it is." Reaching up on my toes, I slid the book back into place and made sure it wouldn't fall.

"Oh." Ellie looked down at her feet, and shuffled them. "But you promise that if you had the chance to be a superhero, you would do it?"

"Ellie, I-"

"For me?" she begged quickly, eyes pleading with me.

How could I say no? I nodded. "Of course. Of course I would."

"Thank you!" She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my legs, squeezing tightly. Goodness, I'd grown attached to the little girl. I ruffled her hair and chuckled. "You're the absolute best, Wanda!"

"Okay, now you're exaggerating," I joked.

"Eleanor!" a woman suddenly shouted, taking a turn around one of the bookshelves. She looked young, with long brown hair and pale skin that was unlike Ellie's – but she shared the deep blue eyes. She brushed her hair behind her ear and knelt down next to the young girl. "You can't keep running away from me like that!" She reached out and brushed Ellie's forehead.

"Sorry, Mom," the kid said slowly. "I was talking to Wanda about superheroes."

Her mother turned to me, a slow smile on her face. She looked so young so be a mother. She stuck out her hand, and I shook it. "Hello, Wanda. I'm Denise Williams."

"Wanda Maximoff," I told her.

She blinked, as if thinking. "You're not related to Marya Maximoff?"

How common was the name Maximoff, I thought wryly, grinning. "Yeah, I am. She's my mother."

Denise laughed. "You must not remember me, then. I knew your mother from back when you must've been in high school. I helped out with the drama club?"

My mother was a big part of that club. I tried out for it my freshman year, and had even nabbed the role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera, but it must've been because of my mother, because I was bad. Denise struck me as mildly familiar. "Oh, yes, I'm sorry. It's been forever since high school."

Denise nodded. "Yeah. I would've stuck around for longer to help your mother, but three years later I was pregnant with Ellie, and just opted to stay home to take care of her. I want to get back into soon, though."

"I can talk with my mom, if you want…?"

"Would you?" Denise smiled happily at me. "That would be so nice."

"It's no problem. My mom could use some help with the drama club, even if she acts like she's gotten it under control." I got to my feet, brushing off my knees. "I should probably get back to work. It's been nice meeting you, Denise, and goodbye to you too, Ellie."

"Bye, Wanda!" Ellie hollered, much to her mother's dismay. "I'll come up with a superhero name for you soon!"

I chuckled, waving at her.

/*\

Lunch rolled around quicker than I thought it would. Normally Leah and I escaped to the diner down the street, but she was so backed up on her book-stacking duty that I went to lunch alone. Tucking my bag over my shoulder, I began the daily trek towards the restaurant. The sidewalk was long, and tons of small shops were set along the right off it, and not to mention the beach was on my other side. This meant tons of people, all the time, no matter the weather.

Pushing my hair into a ponytail, I waved to Max, who was currently serving people who were sitting outside the diner. Her father owned it, and since I had helped tutor Max back when she was having trouble with English, I sometimes got to get free food. (Only sometimes, though, and he'd never admit to anyone who came asking.)

Max smiled at me. "Table for two?"

"No, just me today," I said happily, slipping off my sunglasses. "Leah got sidetracked."

Max's vision went to someone behind me. "Are you sure? Because there's someone who looks like their itching to catch up to you."

Turning, I saw who she'd been referring to. Having caught my attention, the man raised his hand, and I blinked, wondering what he wanted with me. I was positive I'd never met him before, but something about him struck me as familiar. He jogged up to me, and I shot a look to Max before taking a step away from the diner – so we could talk in privacy, but people were close enough to help out in case something went wrong.

Not that he looked like the type of man to kidnap me, but you never know.

"Miss Maximoff, right?" the man asked as he finally approached me.

I nodded. "That's me." My eyes ran over his clothing, and although he looked nothing like Natasha Romanoff, I could just kind of guess. "You're with that… S.H.I.E.L.D group, aren't you?"

"That obvious, huh?" he asked me.

"Well, how else would a complete stranger know my name, right? I mostly guessed." I frowned. "You guys don't give me much time to think things over."

He shrugged. "We're running under a tight schedule."

"…That threat that Natasha was speaking about?" When he nodded, I ran a tongue over my teeth. This threat, or whatever it was, seemed big. How would I be any help? My stomach growled, lurching me out of my thoughts. Not looking at the man due to embarrassment, I wrapped my arms around my mid-section and glanced back towards the diner. "I haven't had lunch yet. Care to join me?"

After a moment of thinking, he nodded. "Sure? Why not?"

We moved back to the diner, and Max came up to us with two menus balanced on her hip. Her lips twisted up into a smirk as she eyed both of us. "Table for two?"

I wrung my hands in front of us. "Yes, Max."

As she led us to a table near the side, she turned to look back at us. We must've looked like quite a pair; the man behind me was tall and had an air of easiness – he was the kind of guy you could talk to (or so I was guessing). I was covered by my mess of brown curls and although I, too, was someone who would be fine talking about your problems, I didn't always give off that aura. "Who's your friend, Wanda?"

I opened my mouth to answer, and abruptly shut it. I hadn't asked. I had basically asked this man out on a date, and I hadn't even asked his name. And he knew mine. I whipped my head around to ask, and he gave me an easy smile, probably overhearing the conversation. He turned to Max and held out his hand. "Steve Rogers, ma'am."

She shook his hand, her smirk growing wider. "Maxine O'Brien, but call me Max."

"Will do."

She pulled her hand away slowly and shot me another look. I rolled my eyes. She seated us at the table and after taking our drink orders, swept away to get them. I set my hands on the table, watching my fingers flex back and forth. "So, Natasha said if I joined that you guys would be able to help me control my powers. Is that true?"

He nodded. "Yes. You don't seem to have too much trouble controlling them, however."

I narrowed my eyes. "And how do you know that?"

Steve gestured towards his cell phone. It looked like Natasha's. "I saw the video of you saving that dog."

Rubbing my fingers along my temples, I sighed. "Has that become a viral video now?"

He laughed. "No, no. But in the video, you saved only the dog. If your powers were too crazy for you to control, you might have hit the truck, your friend, or something else entirely." He had a point. "What aspect about your powers is hard to control?"

Max arrived with our drinks, and I swirled my straw in the cup. "I… I can do it for one short burst of energy. Only getting the dog out of the way, that was easy. But if I need to do something big, I can't. It backfires. It hurts not only me, but others around me. I don't want to be responsible for someone else if someone gets hurt."

He paused. "How do they backfire?"

Memories flashed beneath my eyelids as I blinked, and I swallowed. "Well, as a kid, I had actually no control over anything whatsoever. It just happened when I got really angry, or annoyed, or upset. And it caused only bad luck, it didn't help anyone out." I fidgeted in the seat.

Steve caught on. "Don't want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly," I admitted. Maybe later, but not now. Not right now.

He nodded.

Eating was surprisingly nice. I thought it might have been awkward, given that I barely knew anything about Steve Rogers, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was only about halfway through the meal that I finally caught on to who he actually was, and even then, it was Max who got it first, not me. She'd been delivering our meals, and she nearly tripped on her feet when he mentioned something about waking up.

"You're Captain America?" she blurted, eyes wide.

How had I missed that? I wasn't dense or oblivious, but maybe I'd been enjoying myself enough that I hadn't put any of the clues together. I turned to Steve for confirmation, but he was just laughing at the way Max was basically falling over her own feet as she set down the plates in front of us.

I had spent the next hour trying to get Max to go do her job, and speaking with him about such a thing. It didn't really change my view of him, although I felt kind of star struck. I mean, I felt star struck around Natasha Romanoff, and I didn't even know who she was.

We finished up, and when Max bounded away with the check (which Steve had paid for, despite my loud protests and insistent shoving of my credit cards towards Max herself) I took the chance and hurried us towards the entrance so we could leave.

We had made it to the end of the sidewalk in front of the bookstore when he brought up the question.

Before I could finish, I nodded. "About joining, right?"

"Yes."

I turned back to the bookstore. I could see Leah right through the windows, her hair piled up on top of her head in a bun. She was smiling, nodding at a customer in front of her. I thought of Ellie, making me promise to become a superhero, and wanting to make up my own superhero name. I doubted I'd ever be a superhero like Captain America here in front of me, but maybe I could be someone she'd want to look up to.

I turned back to Steve. "I have a promise to keep to a little girl."

He smiled at me. "Is that a yes?"

"It's a yes."

/*\

Rolling up my sleeves, I glanced around the small gym Natasha and I were in.

It had been a short past couple of days. Right after I spoken with Steve, I had broken the news to Leah and Sam, who had gone berserk and congratulated me. After that, I had told my parents – who were quiet at first and then had told me it was my life and I was free to do what I wanted. Even though I thought that was odd behavior, I didn't push it, and told them I'd be back as soon as I could, after whatever this 'threat' was. (That worried my parents, a lot.)

And here I was, training my powers with the powerful Natasha Romanoff – who, I had learned, was also called Black Widow.

She stretched her shoulders and gestured at me again. "Okay, try and stop me from taking down the flag." She pointed to the last one hanging on the wall behind me.

I took a deep breath, and nodded. "Okay."

Giving me a moment to prepare, Natasha took off. She ran faster than I'd ever seen anyone run before, even the infamous track stars I was friends with back in high school. I watched as she bent her knees and hit the wall with her heel, leaping off it, arm outstretched and fingers just brushing the thin fabric of the flag-

My arm shot out and red light bubbled around my palm before shooting outwards. Where there had previously been fabric in Natasha's fingers, there was nothing but air. She had jumped forward about three feet. She hit the ground with nothing, landing firmly on her feet.

She turned back to Wanda and tucked her hair behind her ear, smirking. "See? You did fine."

"But that wasn't a big thing," I pointed out. "If you had asked me to stop you from grabbing a refrigerator, then we might have had more problems."

She rolled her eyes.

"Any more training for today?" I bent down to pick up my water bottle.

"No, not today." Natasha pushed her hair off her neck and started towards the door with me. She reached for the knob and then stopped, pausing. "Hey, is the ability to fly one of your powers?"

"No. Why?" That was an odd question.

Shaking her head, the redhead pulled open the door. "Just wondering."

We had made it towards the end of the building, and I was getting ready to go home. I just wanted to sleep. Natasha called me to a stop right as we neared the doors, her eyes shifting towards someone who was standing a little ways from us. "Would you mind waiting a minute?" she asked. "There's someone I want you to meet."

Wondering who it could be, I sat down in one of the chairs, crossing my legs.

There was a rush of wind that hit me, and suddenly someone was standing in front of me. I started, jumping up from my seat in a panic. The person laughed, catching my elbow so that I didn't topple right into them. "Wanda!" the person said happily, releasing my elbow once I could stand on my own. "It's been, like, forever."

The person was a tall man with silver hair. Actual silver hair that looked authentic, and I wondered if it was dyed. It had to have been, right? And another person who knew my name, but that wasn't too weird. We were in the S.H.I.E.L.D base, after all, and he probably worked here. I nodded at him. "Yeah, I'm Wanda Maximoff."

He took my hand, the look on his face saying he knew something I didn't. "I'm Pietro Maximoff."

Furrowing my eyebrows, I stole a look at Natasha and wondered if he was joking. By the look on her face, I guessed he wasn't. "Are we related?"

Now Pietro looked lost as well. He turned to Natasha. "She doesn't know?"

"What don't I know?" I vocalized, raising an eyebrow.

He gestured back and forth between us. "Um, obviously. Twins."

It felt like a punch to the stomach. "What?" I studied his face intently. There was nothing to show that he was related to my parents, and yet, even I, myself, didn't look anything like my parents. After a while, I looked away, shaking my head. "There's no way. I don't have a twin. My parents would have told me."

He frowned. "They didn't tell you about me?"

Natasha took a step forward, getting into the conversation. "I spoke with your parents after I visited you," Natasha told me. "They didn't want to tell you anything because they were afraid of you trying to follow after him."

"Where did you go?" I asked. "And why?"

"A school." He tucked his hands in his pockets, and the gesture reminded me of myself. It wasn't even a strange gesture to have, tons of people did it, but for some reason all I think of was myself doing it. I took a deep breath. I was overthinking it. The twin thing was kind of hard to take in. "For my abilities, and such. We were going to bring you, too, but nothing had developed when I left, and they didn't see any need to take you too."

I brushed my hair behind my ear. "What can you do?"

"Not to get into specifics, I can basically move and think really fast."

"Like, how fast?"

"Like, sound of light fast."

"Whoa." So I wasn't alone. Okay, I could work with this twin thing. I would have to ask my parents about it later, and I wasn't looking forward to it. If they hadn't shut down after one silly question about what I thought it'd be like having a twin, imagine what they'd do when they found out I knew I had a twin. "I, uh, this is a lot to take in."

Natasha cleared her throat. "How about you guys catch up doing a lap around the compound? I know we were going to take one, Wanda, but I have work to finish."

My twin and I nodded. "Sure. I'll see you tomorrow for training then," I answered, and watched as she walked away, not looking as though she had just worked out with me for two and a half hours.

We started at the entrance and began to work our way around. Pietro's version of jogging would rival Usain Bolt. I snorted and shook my head. No way was that happening, especially considering the lap was meant to cool you down after a long day of training. He got the message and slowed, matching my pace.

"This is too slow," he complained, but I wasn't having any of it.

Pushing my hair back into a ponytail, I attempted to re-start the conversation. "So, where did you go when you were a kid? Was it like a boarding school?"

"Pretty much." He didn't go too much into it. I could ask later. "And then I came here. What did you do your entire life?"

"It was mostly normal, besides a few incidences with my powers and such. I went through all 12 years of schooling, and then some. I have a job. It's not much, just working at a bookstore with some friends."

"You're not still friends with…" He paused, searching for a name. He snapped his fingers. "Lee something!"

"Leah?" I tried.

"Yeah, her! The only reason I remember her is because she thought my hair was snow and wanted some of it. She nearly ripped it off my head." We both laughed. I didn't remember, but I could see Leah doing something like that. She probably didn't remember Pietro either.

I crossed my arms over my chest as we made the half-way point around. "What age were you when you left?"

"Three, I think." He paused. "I can't really remember. I went almost as soon as I could walk, because, you know, super speed and all."

"I developed my powers at four years old," I half-whispered, deep in my thoughts. "If yours hadn't shown themselves until a year later, we would've left together." He reached out to touch my shoulder, but I had already shaken myself from my mind. There was no use dwelling on things that couldn't happen anyways.

We had made it back to the front.

I stood, in front of my twin brother I never knew I had, and decided to make a very rash decision. I rolled my shoulders, knowing that if I debated it I'd never go through with it. "Do you want to come back with me to the bookstore? Our parents won't be there, if you're wondering – unless you want to meet them, because I can arrange that."

"Our parents?" He looked confused, for a moment, eyes searching mine, and then something in them flashed, as if he were connecting the pieces. "Oh, yeah, of course, our parents. Uh, no, the bookstore is fine. It'd be cool to see where you work."

I smiled. "Okay. We just have to take the bus, then-"

"Wanna go a faster way?" he asked mischievously.

I paused. "How so?"

Before I could object, he had thrown his arms around me, one gripping the back of my neck and the other keeping me supported enough so that my feet weren't touching the ground. I opened my mouth to retort, but suddenly the world was rushing past us and the breath left my mouth and I shut my eyes tightly, instinctively wrapping my arms around his neck so that I wouldn't fall or get hit by something.

And after what seemed like hours but had been mere seconds, the wind stopped hitting me and Pietro had set me back on the ground. I cracked my eyes open and the world was spinning. I wobbled forward and he caught me, laughing at my reaction. "You okay, Wanda?"

I swallowed. "I will be, as soon as my stomach and head stop spinning."

After a few moments, I nodded and straightened. "Next time, could I have some warning?" I rolled my eyes and opened the door of the bookstore.

Leah was in my face before I even had to go searching for.

"Wanda, how was training today?" she asked excitedly, peering over at me from the stack of books in her arms. Her eyes moved slowly to Pietro, and she blinked. "I guess it was good. You brought back a boy."

Pietro laughed, and I twisted up my face. "Not a boy like that, Leah. He's… my brother. Twin, actually. His name's Pietro."

Almost comically, the books dropped from Leah's arms. "What? No way."

"Yeah, way," I said, and went to bend down to grab the books. I blinked, and suddenly they were off the floor and Pietro was holding them, glancing at the one on the top.

Leah blinked, mouth opened. "You even have powers like Wanda? That's super cool."

He shrugged. "Yeah, pretty cool."

Unable to resist, I grinned. "Mine are cooler."

"Maybe," he answered.

Leah looked back and forth between us, resting her elbow in her hand and tapping her chin with her finger. "Yeah, I can kind of see the resemblance."

I spotted Sam coming up from the back, tossing away a towel. "Sam!" I called, cupping my hands around my mouth. "There's someone I want you to meet!"

He came over, looking curiously at Pietro. "Uh, hi?"

"Meet Wanda's twin brother," Leah introduced. "Pietro Maximoff."

Pietro waved.

"And how come we didn't know about this brother until now?" Sam asked us both.

"I didn't even know until an hour ago," I pointed out. "And my first priority was to bring him to meet you both."

Leah and Sam had an identical smile on their faces. "Aw."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."


	3. Chapter 3

Unbelievers

A/N; Still tweaking the histories of the Maximoff's in this. Everything will be explained eventually, just not all in one sitting. Kind of a short chapter, just a transition into the next one. Wanted to get this up quick, sorry about spelling errors!

/ Chapter Three /

Somewhere along the way, our conversation switched to embarrassing stories from my childhood.

After my training the next day, I had brought Pietro to the diner along with Leah and Sam, and we had grouped around a table in the back of the building. When the activity died down, Max joined, eager to add her own stories. I was less than thrilled, but I could retaliate with my own stories of all three of them. I was happy; they got along well with my twin brother, no matter how weird it felt to even call him that.

I cupped my hands around my drink and took a long sip, watching as Max leaned closer to Pietro and swished her long ponytail around her fingers. "There was this one time, at the mall, the week before Christmas-"

Pulling away the cup, I frowned. "No. Not this story. Don't."

Leah's lips twisted up into a smirk. "Well, now we have to tell it." She reached across the table and placed her hand on top of mine, squeezing it. I gave her a look, trying to tell her I wasn't pleased, but she brushed it off easily. "Come on, it's not that bad. Anyways, we were all at the mall trying to find gifts, and Wanda had found one she wanted for her mother – er, I'm sorry, your mother as well, I guess."

Pietro tensed and cleared his throat. "Oh, uh, yeah."

Tilting my head, I wondered why he had looked momentarily perplexed at the idea of my mother also being his. After all, he seemed fine knowing we were twins. Maybe he just wasn't used to the idea of my – our, parents yet. After not seeing them for so long… I guess I understood.

"Anyways," Leah continued, not seeming to notice his pause, "We all went into this small store and grouped around the shelf. Wanda pulled down this beautiful headband that looked as though it had been shipped straight from some foreign country. Like, it was super pretty. In hindsight, I guess we should've known that it would've been expensive."

My shoulders slumped. "It would have saved me a lot of trouble if we did…"

Snickering, Leah continued. "So she goes to buy it, figures out the price, and reluctantly brings it back. And Sammy boy over here gets the bright idea to shove it in Wanda's backpack without her knowing, thinking that she can just walk out and it'll be fine. We walk out, and those machines at the front go crazy.

The manager probably guessed it was her, and he goes to touch her arm, probably to tell her stop, but Wanda wasn't expecting him to touch her, and she spins around, and just hits him-"

"With my powers!" I interjected sharply. "So I never really touched him."

"Isn't it the same thing, though?" Pietro laughed, leaning back in his seat.

"Basically," Sam replied. "Physically or not, she literally threw him across the store with her powers and slammed him into the wall. And then she proceeded to get sick. Right in the front of the store."

Feeling horrid just thinking about it, I pressed my fingers into my temples.

Max grinned. "Luckily, though, no one saw. When the cashier came back, the manager couldn't explain how Wanda had thrown him across the room. And it's not like anyone believed Wanda could push him that far, being only thirteen years old. The surveillance video just showed him flying back, not Wanda's powers hitting him or anything."

"Looks like you got off lucky," my brother said, looking over at me.

"So lucky," I muttered, mostly to myself.

We spent the next hour talking, and thankfully I veered the topic away from talk of my past. When we all finished up, it was nearly past ten, and I was tired. Leah and Sam took the train to their house, and Max's dad was still in the back, so I decided it was easy enough to walk home. It was within walking distance.

Outside, I said goodbye to my friends and turned to say the same to Pietro.

He pointed towards the retreating backs of my friends. "Aren't you going with them?"

"And take the train? Nah." I shrugged. "It would be pointless, considering my house is just down the street… and then a block over. I'll be fine walking."

"In the complete dark?"

"There are streetlamps, and not all of the shops are closed."

"With a dead cell phone?"

I fished my cell out of my pocket. "What?" I clicked the button but nothing flashed to life. I looked up at him, suspicious. "How did you know that?"

"Saw the screen before you put it away in the diner," he told me. "It was on one percent."

Rolling my eyes, I put it away. "Fine. You can walk me to my house, then."

"Can't we go the fast way?" he suggested, following after me down the sidewalk. "It's too slow just walking."

"I am not going the fast way ever again," I pointed out. "Last time, I felt sick. And it hurt. I don't want to do it again."

He made a noise but continued to walk next to me anyways.

"So, when did you meet Max and Sam?" he asked as we made the halfway point.

"I met Sam two years after Leah," I recounted. That would have been one year after Pietro had left. "There's a picture we have of all of us during Halloween, decorating pumpkins. And then I met Max during seventh grade… Yeah, seventh. We just bonded over music and stuff. She's been really a good friend."

Silence came back.

In an effort to vanquish it, I pressed onto a topic I wasn't quite sure was okay, but it was late and I wasn't in the mood to censor anything. "So how come you feel so awkward on the topic of our parents? And I mean, I know it must be hard because you haven't seen them in forever, and you might not have even wanted to leave when you were that young-"

"Wanda," he said, amused, "You're rambling."

"So I am," I said, and brushed my hair out of my face. "Sorry."

"It's fine," he told me, and then seemingly thought about my question. "There are just some things I can't really tell you right now."

"Oh." I frowned. "Okay."

Whatever that meant.

We arrived at my house. I stood on the front step and turned to him, trying to think of a suitable goodbye after I had just gone and made everything awkward. Before I could, the door was pulled open and my mother was out on the front step as well, hands on her hips, looking stern.

"Wanda Maximoff," she nearly yelled. "How come you didn't call me?"

"I'm sorry, Mom," I said sincerely, showing her my dead cell phone. "I couldn't. And before I knew it was dead, all my other friends had left and I couldn't. Well, I mean, Pietro was left but I don't think he had a cell…" I had turned to see if he did have one, but no one was there. He'd left.

Mom frowned. "Pietro? Is that what you said?"

I frowned. He still didn't want to meet her. I shouldn't blow his cover just yet. "No, Peter," I lied. "One of our new coworkers at the store."

/*\

Throwing my arms up, I held open my fingers so that the light flashed from my palms. I focused my hardest on the impending object, willing it to stop. But the thought of it slamming into my body at full force shook me hard, and I ducked out of the way as it soared over my head, lodging itself in the wall. I gave a shaky breathy, glancing behind me. "Could you try any harder to kill me?"

Steve jogged past me and plucked his shield from the wall. "The bigger the threat, the more likely you are to stop it… At least, that's what Natasha told me."

Natasha had gone away. Pietro told me she had to recruit another one of us, all the way over in India. I was insanely curious as to who it was, but no one gave it up. So until she came back, Steve was helping train me. He was easier on me than Nat, that's for sure.

"Fine, then." I stood straight, pushing back my ponytail. "Hit me again."

"You sure?" he asked, and I quickly hid my shaky hands from his sight.

I nodded. "Positive. And I won't even duck out of the way. It hits me, it hits me."

"But it's a reflex," he said after a long moment. "Whether or not you want to, you'll probably just duck anyways if you're nervous."

I stuck up my chin and glanced around. Determined, I moved over to the large door in the back of the room and opened it. I stuck the collar of my shirt in the lock securely, shut the door, and grinned. It was kind of unconventional, sure, but now I definitely couldn't duck. I hoped silently that the shield wouldn't mess up my face too much when it struck. "Okay. Throw it at me now."

He frowned. "No. You're going to be hit."

"Come on. You're supposed to be training on me. You can't go soft on me!" I crossed my arms with some difficulty. "Natasha would throw it at me. Help me train. You wouldn't want me to tell her you were a bad teacher, would you?"

"…Fine. But I'm throwing it lightly."

I took a deep breath, brought my hands up gently, and nodded. "Okay. Go."

This time, I was prepared. Steve brought his arm back and then tossed the shield at me, and I watched it fly through the air, right at me. I narrowed my eyes and the red light shot from my palms, enveloping the shield and stopping it mid-air. I froze. "I did it," I whispered, barely believing it myself. "I did it. I actually did it."

He laughed; I assumed it was at my expression.

Tucking my hair behind my ears, I placed my hands on my hips. It felt good. Everything. The thought of being able to possibly control my powers was amazing. I was ready to tell Steve we could try again when my cell phone went off, the noise loud and harsh in the large gym room. I frowned, jogging over to my bag and pulling it out.

Leah. I opened it and held it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Um, hi, Wanda," Leah answered, sounding nervous. I paused, placing my other hand on my hip. "You might want to come home? Yeah, I don't know, just a suggestion. If you're busy, you can stay put and train, or whatever you do."

Okay, what was going on? "What happened? Is everyone okay?" My mind raced, wondering if my mother or father were hurt, if Sam were hurt, if Max had been injured… "I'm on my way." I knelt down and started cramming my water bottle and jacket into my backpack, ignoring Steve's curious glance. The zipper caught as I struggled to zip it up. He knelt down beside me and shut it easily, and I thanked him with a relieved smile.

"Everyone's fine," Leah assured me, "but I might have… let something slip…"

I shrugged my backpack on my shoulder. "What? What would you have slipped, Leah?" I rarely kept secrets from my parents. We were close enough that I told them nearly everything. The only secret I had from them now was… Pietro. I made a noise. "Leah, why did you tell them about Pietro? Why?"

"How was I supposed to know that they had no clue he was here? He's still their son, Wanda, and I assumed they would know!"

That's true. We hadn't exactly told anyone that my parents had no idea Pietro was here, and we probably should have. There was no undoing it now. I ran my fingers through my hair, stressing. "Okay. I'll be right there. Maybe I'll finally get some answers."

It seemed as Leah wanted some answers herself, but I finally coaxed her off the phone and hung up, putting it into my back pocket. "I'll have to cut training short, Steve," I told him apologetically. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," he told me easily. "It seemed like you have some family troubles going on."

I laughed sheepishly. "You could say that. Thanks for today!"

/*\

"Why didn't you tell us he was here?" was my mother's first comment when I entered the house.

I tossed my backpack onto a chair and crossed my arms. My mother was standing next to the sink, my father was near the back door, and Leah was sitting at the dining table, looking nervous. Mom probably told her not to leave, in case she knew anything I didn't. "How come you didn't tell me about him? I deserved to know that I had a brother!"

"Yes, and we were going to tell you!" Mom said back. "Just not now!"

"I've spent my entire life not knowing I had a brother," I shot back angrily. "And how do you think he feels, not having any parents? He was basically raised just training his abilities. Do you know how good it would have felt to grow up knowing I wasn't alone?"

Mom's shoulders slumped, and she rubbed a hand over her face. "There's some things we have to talk about."

"Yeah, there are." I sat down at the table myself.

Dad touched Leah's shoulder. "Leah, do you-"

"Yeah, totally, of course," she babbled, grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair. She stopped to give me a one-armed hug, said goodbye to my parents, and then left through the front door. Mom took her spot, and Dad sat next to her.

She reached across to take my hand. "Don't think we don't love your brother, because we do. So much."

I sighed, nodding. "I know."

"We thought if you didn't use your powers, they wouldn't grow," my dad added. "And for the most part, they haven't. You told us earlier that since you've been training, you're able to do things you weren't before, right?"

"Yes."

"And we knew you hated your powers," Mom said. "How you couldn't control them. We only wanted what was best for you."

Pausing, I took a minute to think everything over. I could kind of understand where they were coming from. "I still think you guys should have kept up the contact with him… And told me I had a twin. That would have been nice to know."

Mom laughed, and the tension in the room eased up. "We'll keep that in mind for next time."

"He was with me the other night, you know," I told them both, leaning back in my chair. "But he didn't stay."

Exchanging a look, my parents mentally conversed (I could recognize the gesture by the time I was ten) and then turned back to me. "We want to see him," Dad said. "Soon, if that's possible."

I grinned. "How's dinner sound?"

/*\

It took a lot of convincing. A little bit of lying, too.

By the time we made it to my house, I had listened to three excuses, shot down two of them, and dismissed the third. He finally came on the agreement that we'd take the 'fast way' and he wouldn't have to stay for long. And it was a pleasant surprise for all of us, I think. We all managed to get along, despite the awkward beginning, where none of us could quite figure out what to say. I'm honored to say I got the conversation rolling by spilling my drink all over me; when I came back downstairs after getting new clothes I was pleasantly shocked to see the three of them were all talking and laughing.

Afterwards, outside, I spoke with Pietro about the whole thing. "See?" I said, laughing. "It wasn't so bad."

"No, it wasn't," he agreed.

"Maybe we can do it again sometime," I tried, hoping I wasn't treading on thin ice.

He thought about it for a moment – a long moment, and I was sure I was going to burst into flames – and then shrugged, smiling at me. "Sure."

As he left, I called out to him. "I'm positive there are still things I don't know. But I'm determined to find out. So if there's anything you're not telling me…"

He told me there wasn't and left.

/*\

Natasha was back in training the next day, back from wherever she'd gone. "This might be our last day training," she told me when I entered the room, tossing my backpack on the ground.

The news made my heart stop for a moment. "The threat… is getting bigger?"

She smirked. "Don't worry. You'll learn about whatever the 'threat' is soon enough. They wouldn't keep you in the dark after today."

"Okay… Okay, cool," I breathed.

I was excited, and at the same time more nervous than I'd ever been about anything. My whole life had been tossed up in a matter of weeks, and there was still so much for me to find out. I flexed my fingers, feeling confident about my powers. I could do this. I was strong.


End file.
